A Teenage Tiger In The Living Room

Picture me kayakin. Photo by Gary Nielsen.

"It's an ugly fucking world." - Propagandhi

Friday. I gotta tell you, it doesn't have the same meaning it used to.....its nice to enjoy the work you do for a change. Now, if only I could make some money this way....hmm.....nope, I don't think it can be done!

My weekend plans aren't much different than usual here. Jimmy the Duck Jedi is flying in tonight and will be moving in with me and Gary. I am now officially in the market for another bird job, so I'll probably start applying to stuff pretty soon here. I'll let you know how that goes....Ive found stuff from Florida to Alaska for the summer. I'm thinking southeast Arizona would be nice though. Theres also been manta rays lurking in the harbor lately, so I'll try to check those out.

We found several fresh and not-so-fresh dead albatross chicks in our study plots today, which made banding a stinkier and more gruesome job than usual. Normally a dead chick is, although sad, not a big deal. But if it is one of our banded birds, we are supposed to retrieve the bands. This is not a fun task when you are dealing with a ball of maggots and the bird's flesh falls off its bones when you try to move it.

A lot of chicks die here. Extreme heat, high winds, excessive rain, and high surf all wipe out a lot of eggs and chicks. Inexperienced parents may not bring back enough food, and some parents just don't come back at all.....usually for ominous reasons. On top of all this, there is the plastic problem I mentioned in the previous blog. You may now wish to refer to the above quote to assess my opinion of these issues.



This Brown Noddy is part of the frontline invasion force of its species. The Browns are a hell of a lot more approachable than the Blacks it seems like. No pun intended.

In bird news, the atoll is awash in Brown Noddies now, and I saw my first White Tern chick a couple days ago over on Eastern. There should be one next to the back door soon......it has already been named "Halsey". And if that egg doesn't hatch, then the other white tern egg out back will become Halsey. I have a good feeling about Halsey I though. Anyways.......Wedge-tailed Shearwaters are back, and I found a dead Pomarine Jaeger on Eastern. Living ain't easy for everybody out here.

Saturday, April 18th, is Record Store Day. I would like to encourage everyone to head out to their favorite mom 'n pop/independent record store and pick up a cd/record/cassette/dvd. Let them know that you support them and could give two shits (or even three!) about the Walmarts, Best Buys, and Targets out there. It is the independent stores that truly foster and support the creation of music in all its forms, not the corporate giants who aren't more concerned with anything beyond the flavor of the day. So go buy the new Propagandhi and enjoy!